Up to no good. And other things.
Oh, hello there. I wanted to give you a little brief goings on, since it’s fall and all and some of y’all are back to school and I’m back to…well…it seems like I’m mostly back to allergies, but we’ll see if that progresses into anything useful. Anyway, here’s some juicy…gossip? Details? Juice. Obviously juice. In August somehow I was awarded Deviousness over at deviantART.com, which shocked the hell out of me, considering that I’m moderately quiet on the site compared to most of the folks who end up with the nice little crown. I’m honored and pleased and humbled and I can’t thank the team enough. I hope that I can continue to be moderately useful to young writers on dA going forward.
Dean reads banned books!
In other news, Banned Books Week was the last week of September. But in my own garish fashion I celebrated Banned Books for the ENTIRE MONTH. (If you missed this, you’ve been under a rock. Sorry.) So, anyway, I had a guest post every day for the month of September from authors on banned books, including the likes of Ellen Hopkins, Sonya Sones, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Ken Scholes and Cheryl Rainfield. Yeah, I know. I’m STILL freaking out. I had posts from authors whose books have been banned, and authors who once burned books themselves. Posts from authors who are also librarians who have had to deal with censorship at their libraries. Posts about favorite banned books and about censorship in countries other than the US. And posts from authors who WANT their books to be banned or challenged. LOTS of interesting stuff, and I hope you’ll check it out! I’ve started doing some school visits for the fall! In September I visited a middle school here in Austin. The class had all read DEAR TEEN ME, so it was really cool to talk with them about the book. Last week or so I got the most amazing package full of thank you notes. Letters like these make everything I had to go through in middle school and high school worth it:
I might have cried a little.
And then I visited a school Seekonk, Massachusetts (yes that’s a real place) via Skype in a a week and a half ago and it was AWESOME, since the whole school had to read DEAR TEEN ME for summer reading. If your school is interested in having me as a speaker, let me know. I do discounted in-person visits and free Skype visits for schools/classes who are assigned the book or for teachers who buy a class set.
The year I wrote the novel that got me an agent!
Which brings me to….I AM NOW OFFERING PROGRAMMING FOR NANOWRIMO. (Note: I have no affiliation with NaNoWriMo other than my love for the method.) I am giving talks and can be hired for classes on using the NaNoWriMo method to finish a book in the month of November. I’ll talk to college students, high school and middle school students, adult professionals, book clubs, creative writing clubs, classrooms, you name it! I can do longer and shorter presentations, either in class or via Skype. Contact me for details!
I can make your writer self feel like Chuck!
In other news, I’ve got my nose to the grindstone, cranking out the end of the novel I was working on this summer and prepping for my own NaNoWriMo meltdown festivities.
I’m also available for my usual services over at Yellow Bird Editors. If you need a query critique, chapter critique, copy editing, coaching, or something along those lines, come check us out. I’d love to help you!
And…I’m hoping to get some reviews up this week. Nag me on Twitter, I’m so far behind, I could use some good old-fashioned shaming!
What’s new with you? Tell me in the comments!
